Hidden Bridges
by Sherlocked Otaku no. 42
Summary: Jareth has been overthrown and needs help fast if he wants to prevent cross-worldly war. Problem is, the only help he gets is from four human girls. A troubled teen, a quiet lesbian, a spoiled rich girl, and a six year old infatuated with him. Oh,dear...
1. Prolouge

Hey. This is something that kept nagging at me until I had to write it down. As I think I said in the summary, no, it isn't another exile story. How come everybody seems to like exiling Jareth? What the hell did he ever do to you? Hmmmm? Anyways, yeah. Here is my Labyrinth fic. This thingy sucked but I don't care. Yeah. Hope you like:) Oh, yeah, and the title will make sense later, I promise. Hint: It has stuff to do with the amulet.

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing. (sniffle)

Hidden Bridges

Prologue

It was dark. So dark that it would have been impossible to see where you were going. Anyone who didn't know their way around the labyrinth very well would have been even more hopelessly lost now than they would have been during the day. The man pounding through it at full speed now, however, was not lost. He was frightened. He had never been subjected to such things. It had all been... unexpected.

The man slowed to a stop, gasping for air. He leaned his back against one of the labyrinth's walls, clutching the amulet hanging around his neck. They may have been able to take everything else from him, but he would not allow them to have that. The man that had taken him in, the one who had died when he was young, much too young for the responsibility that had been handed him, had made him swear he would never give it to anyone, no matter what happened. He intended to keep that promise. He looked to either side, hoping they were nowhere near him now. When he saw, nor heard anything, he sank to the ground, closed his eyes, and leaned his head back. Why was this happening? How had he suddenly become so weak, weak enough to be overthrown?

Voices. He jumped up and reluctantly began running again, ducking through a seemingly solid wall. He came out in the garden. Halfway there... he might get out yet. He tore off in another direction. But there was no doorway. Something was wrong, there was supposed to be a door here... Something was _wrong._

He spun around. He was panicking. He could not remember panicking before, or if he had it had been much too long ago. He had been frightened when they had come, but that was not panic. Panic was strange. It worried him even more. He tore off again as they came back. How did they know where he was, how could they be following him? He felt suddenly closed in. More turns that were supposed to lead to doors led to walls. Were they changing it? Had he taken a wrong turn? This had to be an illusion, there was no way this was real... He touched another unknown wall, but it was solid. They were altering reality... How? More voices, more running, and his lungs felt about to burst.

And then they were upon him. He stood in the center of a closing circle of some kind of creatures unknown to him dressed as guards. He looked around, not fully understanding where they had come from. Then two of the creatures parted enough for their master to step into the circle and face the man. They closed up immediately behind him and kept their weapons fixed on their prey. The man that stood before him looked uncannily like him. It made no sense, they weren't blood related. But he did. The new man took a step forward, and the other took a step back. They stopped.

The newcomer smiled nastily. "Just give me the amulet, boy," he said. "We'll let you go if you simply hand it over."

Boy? He was no boy...

"Give it to me."

"No," was the quiet reply.

"Are you sure?" The guards stepped closer. When the enemy got nothing save for a silent, determined glare, he said, "Very well." He stepped back and calmly continued. "Kill him." The guards lunged forward at his command. Then there was a bang and a flash, followed closely by choking smoke. In the middle of the intended distraction stood the second man, unfazed. He was looking up. So the fool had waited until they were near him to transform so he could create a distraction long enough to aid his escape. Clever... He smiled coldly as he watched the diminishing figure of a barn owl flying off into the horizon. Jareth would be back. He couldn't stay away from here forever. The speck that had been the owl disappeared as it went into the other world. When he came back, he would have that amulet, whether the former ruler of this kingdom liked it or not.

N/A:

Um, okay, I know that was kind of short compared to my usual writings, but it was still good, wasn't it? It was just to give you a general idea of what happened in Labyrinth Land. If you liked it, please review. I'm gonna wait until I get a few of those to continue. I don't know how many reviews I'm looking for, but it should be more than, say, two. Okay? Arigato! ( I don't know if I spelled that right, I just wanted to say it.)


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The wandering young lady's full name was Pollyanna, but she didn't like that. She also refused to be called Polly on account that she didn't like that name, either. And she simply didn't look like a Paula. So everyone called her Paul. When people first met her, they thought it was strange. They got used to it pretty fast, though. Hell, she even wrote that down as her name, and introduced herself as Paul. The only way people ever found out that her full name was Pollyanna was when they'd ask. Then they never heard it again. Ever.

Paul flung her bag over onto her other shoulder and absentmindedly kicked a crushed beer can. It was warm out, and she was wandering on without any clue where she would end up. Paul had run away from home. She knew that her parents would never notice that she was gone because they had never known she existed. It was that simple. She had never received any attention from them from the time she was five to now. And now she was eighteen. Having graduated high school by a hair's breadth, without letting a single hint out that she didn't have a house, she now wandered about looking for jobs. It was hard to do this because she kind of smelled, since she could rarely take a bath, and when she did, it was always in the local pond. That was where she had made her home. All she had was a few blankets and some clothing. She also had a large knife in the bottom of her bag. This was for when she went about her business at night. This was a town like any other, and she always was sure to pack something to protect herself with. And guns made noise. She couldn't pick the lock to the case that held her father's, anyway.

No one came to the pond. That was why she lived there. It wasn't that the water was dirty, it was just that it was part of a reserve. The trees there were so thick, though, that the rangers would never see her. And the cops weren't looking for her. She had passed plenty in the streets, had friendly conversations with them, even, and had never been asked questions. This was because, as she'd suspected, her parents, even after four weeks, had never even bothered to file a missing persons report to the cops. And she had not seen their faces since she'd left the short note lying on the kitchen table. She knew she had never existed to them before, and that she had been completely unplanned. And the only reason for her parent's marriage. And unwanted. It did not hurt her feelings.

Paul was not a slut. She would not sell herself on the streets, nor would she allow any man other than the boyfriend that she didn't have yet, but knew she would soon, to touch her. She could be very violent, even without the knife. Everyone at school knew that. She could take down a man three times her size with one blow, all because of maneuverability and speed. And knowing where the many stun-spots on people's bodies were. Her favorite was always the spot near the stomach, because once she hit someone there, no one watching would have known what the fuck had just happened. They would be staring at the slowly falling man while she walked calmly away, popping a stick of gum into her mouth. She'd done it before. That had been the main reason for so many past expulsions or suspensions. She liked being the known threat. No one in their right mind would mess with her. But those who didn't know her usually got the knife or found out about her rather quickly. This was why she stopped to consider the club in front of her. She needed money, a job. Having such a nasty rep didn't help with the normal ones. She thought. They would only be looking at her, after all. She would get lovely tips. She had her knife. And her fighting knowledge. She walked in, feeling perfectly confident.

Ten minutes later she walked out with a job, and returned the next day and did what she was supposed to. So it was that Pollyanna, the runaway who preferred to be called a man's name, became Morganna, the youngest waitress-slash-stripper in the club. It wasn't bad, actually.

-

Jareth tried to fly higher. He had taken a beating when fighting with those men, before he'd gotten away and run. Now he was in the Aboveground, and it had changed a bit from what he had remembered. He had been here for several days, now, and still he hadn't found the person he was looking for. He would have been able to sense them, but his strength was ebbing away slowly. His magic wasn't as strong here. This was bad. People were staring, or at least some people. It wasn't usual for an owl to be awake and flying around during the day. They were probably confused.

As the day grew longer, he knew that he couldn't make it for much longer. Then he arrived in the area where all the little boys were. As little boys often did, the boys that lived here thought it amusing to throw rocks at any small or flying animal. They were doing that to Jareth now. He could hardly dodge the rocks. They chased him for a long time, into a large area where lots of plants were. He had been hit with several rocks by now, and being in a bird's body didn't help. He was also losing his normal intelligence. He hadn't changed into a man since arriving here, fearful that he might be seen by someone. Those men back home could have followed him here, and he didn't know if they recognized him in this form. It was the safest one. But his brain was turning into that of an owl. If you stayed in the form of any animal too long, you slowly started thinking the way that animal would, so he usually avoided changing at all if he could help it.

An owl would be tired now. They wouldn't be as good at dodging things, or knowing anything to do other than keep flying away. All of these things were affecting him. Not to mention the still stinging wounds from when he was in the Underground, running away from the strange men that had come after him. These boys were fast. Quite suddenly, he felt a huge rock hit him square in the head. As his vision clouded, he could hear muffled yelling as someone chased the boys away from wherever they were, something about a reserve... Jareth tried desperately to flap his wings as much as could be allowed while slipping into unconsciousness. It was hard, and he finally ceased moving as he blacked out.

He was lucky. No one saw the falling bird change into a man as it descended toward the large pond below it. He landed loudly in the water and lay still. The animals didn't come near the pond for the rest of the day, wary of the funny smell of a creature they had not been encountered with before.

Author's note:

Okay, that was weird, I know. But it has lots to do with the story. Or, you know, or else I wouldn't have put it in. The only thing that doesn't really matter much is the whole stripping thing. You can ignore that if you want. I just thought I might as well make her one. Just because. Review, please! Thanks!


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It was a long night. Paul was surprised she could even stay awake for as long as she was. She needed to get back to the pond, anyway, before it was morning. She didn't mind walking back so late at night, she should probably be used to doing it by now. It was just that this had been her... fifth night at work, and there had been people who wanted to see her dance again. She didn't know why, she knew she wasn't what most men would call hot, but it might have been the fact that her chest naturally protruded nicely. And she had a large ass. Maybe they liked that. She had no idea. She'd gotten several tips, and one guy had asked her if he could 'be her friend'. She had, of course, refused, much to his disappointment. She had learned quickly what that meant.

She was_ very_ tired. Thus was the reason that she did not notice the intruder in the pond. She changed into her pajamas right in front of him. He, of course, didn't notice, nor saw a thing, being as it was that he was unconcious. Paul went to sleep.

-

In the morning, Paul groggily went to the pond to wash her face. Once she was done with this and tossed her black hair back out of her eyes, she happened to glance to her right. Had she not trained herself not to scream while here, for fear of being found out, she would have done just that. But instead of screaming, she gasped loudly and jumped back, nearly falling into the pond herself, which would not have been good, since she had never learned how to swim. Having heartless parents did that.

There was a man lying in her pond, his eyes closed as though he were sleeping. Half of his body was in the water, and half of it was out of it. The part of his body that was in the pond was floating slightly. She couldn't tell if he was breathing. She freaked out. _Jesus Christ, there's a dead guy here! What the hell happened, how come I didn't notice it last night?! What the hell am I supposed to do?! He's dead! Oh, my God!_

These were a few of the many jumbled thoughts that shot through her brain as she stared at the man and looked around frantically, then stared at him again. This was not good, this was definitely not good... There was a groan. She couldn't suppress a yelp, and so she did it quietly. He was dead! But he was making noise! What the fuck?!

Jareth sat up slowly, rubbing his head. He looked around carefully, through squinting eyes, and then noticed the girl backing away from him on her back. He blinked. He couldn't see all too well, and what he saw, he thought was... "Sarah?"

Paul froze. "Wh— what?"

Jareth looked closer at the frightened young lady. "You're not her at all, are you?" he said, sounding mildly disappointed.

"Um... Um...," squeaked Paul.

"No, you aren't... Oh, well." He tried to stand up, felt as though he would pass out if he did, and dropped back down with another groan.

"I... You... I thought... Weren't you just dead?"

Jareth blinked at her again, thought for a moment, and then said, "Nnno, I don't think so..."(A/N:there were supposed to be three ns for those of you who care)

"Oh. Um... Okay..." The poor girl felt rather stupid suddenly. She tried to relax, and managed to look over the man in front of her. Weirdly done up long blond hair, two different colored eyes, dressed funny... Who was this guy? "Who are you?" she said slowly.

He shrugged, as though who he was wasn't of much importance to him... or something. "My name is Jareth. I'm from..." he considered this for a moment. The situation presented to him was not one in which he should tell the truth, he decided, for fear of confusing the girl before him even more than she already appeared to be. He finished with, "Well, I'm not from around here. Where is here exactly?"

It was Paul's turn to blink now. The guy hadn't really needed to tell her that he wasn't from around here, he had a British accent. She told him the name of the reserve they were in.

"Ah. Right." He had no clue what was going on, did he? He looked at her as though studying her carefully. There was a strange buzzing sensation going on in his skull and he didn't know if this was because he had somehow miraculously found whatever person he had been looking for in the first place, or if it was because he had been hit on the head with a large rock. Then he saw something. He didn't know why it caught his eye, but it did. The necklace she was wearing. Maybe it was because of the sunlight glinting off of it. The amulet that hung from the leather cord had a reddish tinge to part of it, the part that appeared to be some kind of sun-like symbol. This was being held by a kind of dragon claw, which had a green tinge to it. The tinges the two parts of the amulet gave off apparently were natural and were in the metal itself. He stared at it until she noticed and quickly grabbed it, shoving it into her shirt.

"What?" she said uncertainly.

The man shook his head quickly and looked back to her face. Yes, she was very confused. "Who are you?" he asked her, in response to the same question that had been asked of him.

Still uncertain, she said carefully, "Um... I'm Paul."

"Isn't that a man's name?"

"Yes, it is. But it's what I'm called."

She was still wary. And now Jareth knew that the buzzing sensation was indeed his sensing that this girl was the person he had been looking for.

After a long time, they had gotten used to each other, and were in the process of having a conversation, when Paul glanced in the direction of a watch lying next to her bag. She jumped up. "Oh, shit, if I don't leave now, I'll be late for work!"

While Jareth looked at her questioningly she pulled her clothes on over her pajamas and started packing her things away quickly. After a moment, she seemed to see him sitting there for the first time. "Oh! I'm sorry..."

"That's all right. Er... Would you mind very much if I came with you? It's just, I don't know where we are exactly, and I don't want to wind up wandering off to find out."

She stared at him for a moment, confused again, but then said with a shrug, "Yeah, all right, come on. Wait, your head..."

"It's all right, I feel much better now." he said truthfully. Slowly he eased his way onto his feet again before testing his walking. He was fine. Before they left she gave him a hair tie to at least calm down the mess on top of his head. It took a while to get all of it in. Once that was done, he looked fine. He wouldn't make people worry in the club, they got wierdos who dressed funny there all the time for some reason. Then he followed her, and on the way, she pointed out the different places they passed.

When they finally got to the club, she led him to the bar and he sat down. "Hey, sweetheart," said Jim, the bartender.

"Hey. Look, this guy is a friend of mine and he's never been here before, so just tell him what we have and give him whatever he wants, okay? I'll pay for it myself when my shift's up."

"You got it." And she went to punch in.

About ten minutes later, Jareth was having his third drink. It was around this time that the bartender smiled and nodded to the stage, which Jareth had completely failed to notice since he had gotten there. "Ever know what your friend does here?"

"No. Should I?"

Jim answered with another nod to the stage, which Jareth finally turned to as a man with a microphone announced, "And now, our youngest dancer, the girl all of you came here to see... Morganna!" And out from the back of the stage walked a smiling Paul. She hopped up and grabbed onto the pole in center of the stage, spinning around it. Jareth knew what that meant. He raised his eyebrows and turned his entire body to face the stage, leaning back, smiled and took another sip of his drink. He might grow to like this girl even faster than he thought he would... He would have to anyway, wouldn't he? After all, she was the one that was supposed to help him get his throne back.

What he didn't know was that he was right. But he was also wrong. There were three others he needed. It would just be some time before they met them. He watched Paul's performance with interest.

Author's note:

Yeah, that was that. Pretty good, right? Right? And the end was mysterious. Not really, but oh, well. Review, please!


	4. Chapter 3

Hey! Update time! Hope you guys didn't miss me very much. Actually, I kinda hope you did, in a way... I just graduated from high school on the third, so I'm really happy and stuff! Anyways, yeah. So, as far as all the stories I've done go, I'm pretty sure I'll have plenty of time to update and things. You know, think of ideas and random shit like that! Yay! So there should be less time between updates now! I don't know why in hell I put all of these exclamation points at the end of almost every single sentence! I'm not that happy! Because I never got a chance to tell the guy that I like that I like him at all. And I really did. It wasn't just your typical crush, either. I think I fell in love with him. Love is a strange sensation for somebody who's never felt it before... But he danced with me once at the prom, so I guess I still have that to remember him by. And I have a strange feeling that graduation wasn't the last time I'll ever see him again. I have a weird hopefulness in me that keeps keeping me happy-ish that says I will see him again. And maybe he'll be telling me he likes me. I dunno. This was really long, so I think I'll stop boring you, now. Sorry. Anyways, so here's the next chapter. It takes place in Labyrinth Land and it's told through the bad guy's POV. I'm done now. Thank you!

Chapter 3

It was quite a dreary place, this. At least while all of those annoying goblins were safely tied up and under lock and key. San had never had quite such a migraine in his life, and he was nearly three hundred years old, now. He sat in the rather uncomfortable chair that served as a throne in the middle of an empty, boring room with some kind of odd, apparently pointless circular depression in the floor. He didn't very much care what exactly it was for. Where the bloody hell were those sniveling little—

"Boss! Boss, we found something!" San sat up straight as one of his servants burst into the room. Normally, he would have protested at his bursting in in such a way, but he had said they'd found something...

"Yes? Yes, what is it? A parchment, a hint, a clue, what?" His eagerness almost reduced him to acting like a toddler impatiently expecting some incredible Christmas present. He didn't know that, however, as there was no such thing as Christmas in the world he had come from.

"You'll have to come and see, sir! We made one of those annoying little red imp things that can remove various body parts tell us!"

"And?"

"Well, and then we killed it, sir. Just a plain damn nuisance it was, sir..."

"No, no, no, I mean and what exactly did you find?"

"Oh,_ that._ Well, we've gone and found a switch or a lever or a keyhole or whatever those things is called. We only have four more to find, sir, and then we just drag Jareth back here and make him give us the amulets."

"Excellent! My dear man I've had so little to do today that I'm so happy I... God, I could kiss you!"

"Really, sir? But you won't, sir, will you? It's just that I don't, er..."

"Oh, good gracious, no, dear boy, it's just a figure of speech."

"Oh, good. My wife wouldn't like it if it happened again."

"She... what?"

"Nothing, sir, I just stopped by a pub once a while back and had a bit too much to drink and all, sir, and... things happened I'm a bit ashamed to speak of."

San stared at the man he was currently walking next to for a bit before simply raising his eyebrows and nodding before looking ahead again. He decided that that was something best left unsaid, although it did put his imagination in gear to pictures of things he rather wouldn't like to see. It was for that reason that he remained silent until they arrived at a place near the Fireys home that had been excavated, which, in this case meant dug up to a degree where if you fell off the edge and into the hole in the ground you would most definitely break a bone or two. Or three. Four if you were very unlucky. So he took about three steps away from the edge before calling down, "Well? What is it, then?"

The small group of his servants who were milling around down there seemed to be dusting remaining dirt off of a strange small pedestal of some kind that had been buried for years. "Well, sir," said one of them, "We think it might be one of the keys to the bridge, sir. It has a hole in it and everything."

"Well? What does the hole or the design on it look like?"

"Er, you could come down here and see for yourself, sir."

San looked around. There were no ladders. "Er... no... thank you, I... I'd rather keep all of my bones in good shape."

"All right, well, the hole it has is the same shape as Jareth's amulet, sir. And it clearly opens summat if you stick it in."

"Really? Intriguing..."

"Yessir, and we have reason to believe that maybe that one thingy that we caught knows about where one of the other ones is at, sir."

San turned to one side and saw a small, pissed off looking Firey slouching in a net that had holes too small for it to fit any body parts through. With a grin, he went over to it. "Uh, sir? Anyone? Could someone throw down a, a ... ladder or... or a... rope of some kind? Please?" said a small voice from the hole. He was ignored.

"Well, well, well," said San, crouching down in front of the net. The Firey hmphed and turned it's head away. "I'll make this simple. Do you know where any of the other keys are? Or who else may know? Hm?"

"I don't know nuthin' sleezball! Now let me go!"

"You don't know anything?"

"Nope!"

"Nothing at all?"

"Unh-uh!"

San paused. "You don't even have a small little bit of a clue?"

"I don't know nuthin'!"

"You can't even think back to maybe something small that you heard or—"

"NUTHIN'!"

"Really? Hm. Oh. Well, all right, then, let it go." And San stood up. Once the net was cut open, the Firey had a fun time taunting them by saying loudly, "HA! Suckas! You think I'd actually say a thing about it?! I know, but you're not gettin' anything from me!" And with another laugh, (it would have been re-captured if it's body hadn't split up and dodged the men's grasps) it tried to run away. It's head, however, was caught promptly by San, who said triumphantly as it's upper body was caught by someone else, "Did you honestly think I'd let you off that easily?"

Nothing but a whimper that said the whimper-er knew he was stupid met this.

"Now, I know that you all can remove various body parts, but... that doesn't mean you don't have hearts... does it?" said San. And he took out a knife and pointed it at the body, right where the heart would be as he held the thing. Another whimper. "Now... tell us who else knows."

About ten minutes later, Hoggle was rudely interrupted during his daily faerie-killing routine and was picked roughly up by the back of his shirt. "Hey! What do you think you're doin', put me down! Put me... You're not Jareth!" He said this last bit because San, who hadn't been the one to grab him, now moved in front of him and faced him with a smile.

"Hoggle."

"Uh, y— yes?" Hoggle's coward instincts had just resurfaced, you see. He really, really wanted to run and curl up in a ball, hidden somewhere right now. If someone like this was around, he knew something was wrong.

"One of your little Firey friends told us that you know the whereabouts of a certain key? One that has been here in the Underground for centuries. Correct?"

"Th— The keys? Aw, I ain't tellin' you nuthin' about no keys! You ain't gettin' a word outta Hoggle!"

"Oh, I think we will." And once more, San took out his trusty knife and placed the tip against Hoggle's neck. "Now. Where is the second key? It looks very much like a pedestal. One with a hole in the front that resembles the outline of a dragon's claw clutching a sun." And he smiled as Hoggle whimpered. He loved it when he made people whimper.

Author's note: Oh, my God, yay! I have no idea where the mild humor that short, simple, and rather pointless chapter came from, I just thought of it! Goodie! Anywyas, thank you for reading, and be sure to tune in next time for whatever random chapter I come up with next! (GRIN)


	5. Chapter 4

Hey, people, sorry it took so long to update this. I've had no internet for a while, now, because of some stupid issue with my dad. Yeah. Anyways, this is probably not going to be very good, and might be different than the last chapter. It's probably gonna be short, too, or at least a little bit short. I have no idea what I'm talking about, never mind. Uh... Yeah, so here is this chapter that I'm writing because of boredom.

Chapter 4

Jareth sat in silence, watching a few water bugs skim the top of the pond where he and Paul were living now. He only thought of it that way because even if she had lived here, he hadn't. Or something like that. He was worried. He didn't understand what must be done about his issue. How in the hell was he supposed to calmly tell Paul that he was from another world entirely different from this? A world beneath this one, too. She would think he was insane. Or at least just become confused again. It had been some time since he had met her, about two more days. He was beginning to grow accustomed to the Aboveground, and that couldn't be good. What if he was no longer fit to be king when he returned? Then San would have gotten the throne. Not good.

He continued to watch the bugs fly around. In the distance a dog of some kind howled. It was a coyote, but as he wasn't very good with any of the animals that resided in this world, he didn't know that. He just knew it was a dog. He also knew something else, but it was something that he didn't want to give in to, and so he tried not to think of it. He had been in this world much too long as it were, and if he stayed any longer, the effect it would have on him would be horrid. He could feel it creeping up on him. It wasn't a great feeling, kind of like a feeling that was just out of his reach. Just beyond the point of his being able to sense it fully, but he didn't need to fully sense it to know it was coming. It would be upon him soon, but he couldn't bear to just get up and go back to his own world.

He looked over at the sleeping girl, and found himself smiling slightly as a small raccoon investigated the bundle that was her body beneath a blanket. It didn't do much, just sort of sniffed at her face, crept under the blanket with her, still sniffing profusely, and then it came back up and went away, deciding she was of no particular interest to him. Jareth wondered how on earth she had slept soundly and without movement through that. Perhaps the animals here liked her.

He gazed upward now, staring at the moon. It was very full, very white, and very pretty. He realized suddenly that he had never actually seen the moon before. When he had taken Toby from Sarah and stopped to speak with her by the window there had been a moon, but he hadn't looked at it. He had been focusing on her the entire time. He had thought her attractive, and that was why he hadn't lain a hand on her. There were times when her whining and made him want to, but he never had. He was surprised. He didn't miss her, didn't think on her as often. It was as though she had been there one instant and gone the next and he hadn't even gotten to know her enough to care.

Paul gave a small, half-hearted moan in her sleep , causing him to turn to her and watch her for a bit. It wasn't a provocative type of moan, it was just a moan. The kind you make when speaking in the dream you're having, but not enough to actually speak intelligently outside the dream. But he still looked on.

He was not the kind of person who thought of many things a man would think about a sleeping girl entirely at his mercy. He didn't trouble himself thinking about sex, or anything like that, simply because there was just no reason to think of such things in a land where only ugly little goblins ran about. This was why it struck him as odd that he suddenly remembered the performance she had put on earlier at the club. He never actually watched it after the first night because after seeing her once he didn't care to see it again, although she was very attractive in her own right. The other girls, who he had watched merely out of curiosity hadn't struck him as quite as attractive as Paul, which was strange. He didn't care for women with flat stomachs and tiny features. And he himself was blond, so he had no interest in girls that shared that trait. He actually was not very fond of his hair color, even if he didn't know just why this was.

And so he looked at her, and the thought came, and it surprised him. He blinked, and then quickly erased it from his mind and concentrated once more on the surface of the pond. The insects were gone, now, and there wasn't anything to disturb the natural constant rippling quality the water had, and nothing to see in it besides his own reflection. As he looked at it, he noticed there was something wrong. He seemed to be more pale, and more thin, but only by a tiny bit. It was enough for him to notice though, because he knew what it was. It was the weakness. He was away from his home for far too long and that was the result. The weakness that would eventually kill him if he did not return soon. He shivered and moved away from the pond, curling up under the meager extra blanket Paul had given him for nights and fell into a fitful sleep.

-

As he slept he somehow failed to hear Paul's next moan. It was not the kind it had been before, now. It was the kind when one was beginning to have a nightmare. Or at least something that frightened her while she slept. She would think it silly in the morning, perhaps. Perhaps.

_She was running along a very long corridor, in a building of some kind. It gave her the impression of a castle at some points, and a dirt tunnel at others, and two walls on either side of her at still others. There was light, but the light had no source. Something hurt her, and her strength began to give way. Still more pains troubled her, and still more strength left her, and she knew she was being pursued by whatever it was that was causing them. She began to run faster, and faster still. Her surroundings began to go faster than she could run. They were passing in a blur, when she could barely run any longer. She was calling, but to whom she didn't know. She was cold, then, so horribly cold that it seeped into her bones and weakened her all the more. Finally, she couldn't even move any longer, and she fell, and where there had been a solid stone floor only seconds before, there was nothing, and she kept falling for a long, long time until she landed in a garden surrounded by many walls, forming what looked to her like some kind of frightening maze. But it was strange here, the sky was a sickly yellowish orange color, and the trees had no leaves. Winter, it was winter, a voice in her head told her. But she didn't have time to think about it, no time, no time at all, because there were the birds. Or she thought they were birds. They had to be birds, huge great black crows and ravens and they attacked her, swooped down on her from all directions, and she couldn't fight them off because, somehow, she had begun to bleed. The blood poured from her wounds, and she didn't know where they were. It made dark red pools around her that turned into black rivers, and she couldn't see, her sight was fading... But then she saw something. A flash of white among the sea of black feathers, a flash of white and brown, a light among the rest. She couldn't see what it was, but she called to it, reached out to it to help her, save her, stop the blood, make the birds leave... Stop the blood... It wanted to help her. It wanted to come to her, whatever it was, and it tried, it tried so hard. But it was pushed away by the birds, and the wind... The sudden wind that was there as though it had been all the time. Paul flailed her arms at the attackers, ran toward the light, but it was pushed further and further away until it was gone, had fallen to the ground, landed in the river of blood. And she fought and fought but she couldn't. She couldn't, and she turned around and one of the birds dove toward her chest. A searing pain erupted where it had hit, and everything went black._

It was her scream that woke Jareth. It wasn't a small scream, the kind of scream you make when woken with a start, but a real scream, loud and piercing. He didn't think, but went to her immediately, only to find her waking up from a nightmare, soaked in sweat and breathing very hard. He tried to hold onto her shoulders and get her to look at him, but it was hard, she was still fighting off the effects of what she had seen. "No! Let go! It's not— It's not... It..." This was what she kept yelling until her voice faded and she realized that there were no crows, there were no ravens, or even any birds of any kind there, and that she wasn't bleeding, she was all right. It was dark, but there was nothing here that would harm her, it was just night, that was all. She stared at Jareth in confusion as though she didn't recognize him.

"Look at me. Look at me," he said as she stopped her yelling and stared at him. He stared back, unsure of what to do. He understood what had happened, he understood that it had been a bad dream, a very bad dream. He knew what bad dreams were, he had had many in his long life. They were all the same, though, never different. But he couldn't look back on what they were now. She was frightened, and even if he had never learned how to comfort, he knew he must try.

Paul stared at him with wide eyes, shaking slightly and gripping the tops of his arms tightly in her hands. She still continued to breathe hard, as though she had nearly had a heart attack. Perhaps she had, he didn't know. "It was a dream," he said. "That's all it was, it was a dream. It isn't real." He said the things he had heard the first time he had dreamt it, the first time he had run to the old man's room and rushed into his arms, sobbing. That was what he had said, that all it was all just a dream, and that it wouldn't hurt him. "It won't hurt you. It's done now. It's done." These were the words that the old man had said, the exact words, he remembered, and it was strange to hear them coming from his own mouth. He didn't want to remember the dream now, he couldn't. So he repeated what he had first said once more. She stared at him, and then tears came, and without thinking, she buried her face in shoulder and sobbed.

Jareth had never had anyone to hold before, for any reason. Not since the old man had gone. He wasn't quite sure he knew how to do it, and for a moment he did nothing, just sat and allowed her to cry. Then he slowly found his arms were circling her gently, and once he knew what to do, he held her. He neither said nor did anything more, but held her. And he did it for a long time, because she cried for a long time, and she trembled when she was done. They sat in the dark, under the trees and her sniffles were soon the only sound to be heard.

Strangely enough, though, they had both failed to notice something very important. The pendant on the chain she wore around her neck had burned it's image into her chest, and the light it had suddenly erupted with when in her dream the crow had plunged it's talons into the exact same spot was still slowly fading.

A/N: Well, there you have it. Different from the style of my other chapters, yes, but I was reading a book that was written in a similar way right before I wrote this. Hope you enjoyed it, and want to know what happens next and all that, and thank you very much for reading!


	6. Chapter 5

Okay, I'm really, really, really sorry about having taken almost a year to write more of this, but I've had so many other stories to write and so many things going on that I couldn't come up with anything else for a long time. But I just read this whole thing, starting from chapter one again and now I know what I want to write down. So, with my deepest apologies, here is the hopefully long-awaited chapter of this story.

Chapter 5

Ebony rushed quickly through her house, suddenly realizing that she couldn't remember the layout of it for some reason. It took her quite a while to find the nearest of the two bathrooms and then a while to find the light switch when inside. Once she did, however, she immediately turned the water in the sink on, and, looking into the mirror, splashed cool water on her chest. It had burned, it had burned so much... By this time, she realized that the whole time she had franticly run through the house, ever since right after she awoke from that nightmare, her necklace had been glowing. She didn't know why it wasn't anymore, but the stinging from it was still present, and she was in too much pain to think of anything but that, and just threw the amulet hanging from the chain over her shoulder and continued to splash cool water over the spot that had burned... Panting, she finally felt the pain leave, and studied the wound it had left in the mirror, a dark brown spot against chestnut skin. The confusion set in then. It was the exact same shape as the amulet on her necklace.

She reached for it, staring still, and then, nervously and carefully, she placed the charm back where it had been. She was right. The exact shape of it had been burned into her flesh._ Now_ was the point in time when the fact that it had been glowing fully struck her, and now was the time she wondered... Why? It wasn't supposed to glow, it was just metal, it didn't even have any kind of glow-in-the-dark or fluorescent paint on it, all the colors were natural for whatever metal it was.

The shape of the amulet was the outline of a triangle, and in the middle of it was a bird flying over a kind of angled cross. It had intrigued her, and she had bought it from the creepy old lady behind the stand in the market at King Richard's Faire because of that. The woman had said it was some kind of ancient mark, and that it was part of a small set, but no one had found the other amulets. How she knew it was part of a set, Ebony didn't know, but she hadn't bothered to ask. She had proceeded to look it up in books and online every chance she got, because a few of her friends had said it might be some kind of special symbol or a family crest or something, and she'd wanted to find out if they were right. She had found nothing about it. There was something else she had found out, though. Apparently, a very long time ago, a family of peasants in medieval times had had a family crest that was worn on the shield of a son when he became a knight. The only reason she thought of looking at it was because there had been something about an amulet having been made of that crest, one and only one, which was given to that knight's son. It was lost somehow, or something like that, and hadn't been seen since, and neither had that boy. The only reason why so many people had gone looking for it afterward was because it was believed to have some sort of magical powers that did something very important. But no one had seen it. She had wondered if this necklace was in fact that one, but she guessed correctly that it was wrong.

After a very long time of considering what on earth had happened, she decided to handle it tomorrow, because she felt suddenly very sleepy again, as though she hadn't slept in days and days, and thus trudged off to bed.

-

About thirty to forty miles away, another young woman was staring at a burn mark on her own chest, shaped as a rearing bear standing in front of a pentagram, claws and teeth bared. She was also looking with increased confusion upon the amulet that hung around her own neck, of the exact same shape. She hadn't bothered to find out what it was. She had bought it from one of those stores that sells macabre items, magic candles and such, which she went to often. It had been the only one there, and she had felt drawn to it. Apparently, according to the man behind the counter, this was some type of ancient family crest.

"Megan?" said a sleepy female's voice from the bed behind the first girl, "Are you okay?"

"It stopped now, babe, I'm fine. Go back to sleep."

But instead of doing that, Jasmine got out of bed and came up behind Megan, tousling her short brown hair and kissing her neck before wrapping her arms around her from behind. She rested her chin on Megan's shoulder. "Are you sure? You woke up so fast..."

"Yeah, I'm sure. Like I said, it stopped..."

"But look..." Jasmine made Megan turn and face her, and gently touched the dark brown mark. "You're burned... What happened?"

"I... Don't know." Megan looked into the mirror again, sideways, still rubbing the spot.

"Oh, you shouldn't rub it like that, Meggie, it'll make it hurt a little more... I'm gonna go get some cream to put on it."

"Jazzy, I'm fine, it doesn't hurt..."

"I know, but I want to get some on it anyways, just in case it scabs over or flakes or something, okay?" She left the room, and wouldn't hear Megan's half-hearted protest. Megan sighed and looked again at the burn in the mirror. She rubbed at it a little more, while her girlfriend wasn't in the room, and looked in confusion once more at the fact that her necklace had somehow burned it's silhouette into her chest. What had happened, she didn't know, but she was still shaken up by that dream... She had never dreamt anything like that before...

"Okay, I got some Neosporin from the medicine cabinet, lemme see..."

Reluctantly, Megan turned back to her and allowed the cream to be rubbed onto the burn. "Okay... there. All done. Oh, you might wanna sleep with that necklace off or at least hanging behind you so it doesn't do that again or mess up that burn, okay?"

"Yeah, all right..." Obediently, she tossed the amulet over her shoulder so it hung down her back.

Come on. Back to bed, you have work tomorrow..." Megan was led by Jasmine's hand back to bed, and then they crept in together. Jasmine snapped off the light, and then she and Megan kissed briefly before she settled down with her head on Megan's shoulder. She fell asleep quickly, but Megan, having still not gotten over the confusion of what had happened, lay awake and stared at the ceiling, gently stroking Jasmine's arm. She didn't sleep again for some time.

-

Six year old Rosie ran into her parent's bedroom, bawling her eyes out and screaming about both a nightmare and the fact that something had burned her. Once they calmed her down, her father went quickly to the bathroom to wet a cloth after he and his wife saw that the part about something having burned her had been correct. A dark spot in the area of her chest stood out from her pale skin. She was still crying a bit when he returned, but she had stopped her yelling, and her mother was gently rocking her back and forth, stroking her hair.

"Here we go, sweetie, let daddy see..." said her mother, and slowly, Rosie moved into a better position so he could carefully wipe at the burn. Once he had successfully cooled it, they took a better look at it. It was shaped exactly as the necklace around Rosie's neck was shaped. The crest was a very intricate Celtic knot, tied tightly together and with a greenish gold tint. The way it was done made it look as though it consisted of three ropes braided together to create the knot. They hadn't felt very comfortable at first with allowing Rosie to wear it, but she had insisted she'd take good care of it, and she had. It was still in one piece and didn't have a scratch on it. And she always kept it tucked under her shirt, hanging in front of her heart. And now the image of it was burned into her chest. They knew what this meant, and they looked up at each other, shock on their faces. One thing was stuck in their minds. Grandpa had been right.

About two hours later, Rosie lay asleep again in the middle of her parent's bed, and they were talking in whispers to each other. "This can't be right, it's too soon, she's much too young for that..."

"I know, but it must be. It's burned itself onto her skin, she can't back out of it now when she finds out..."

"Honey, face it, she needs to."

"But Grandpa said the necklace was meant for me not her! He told me the story!"

"We don't even know if this is real, it might just be a coincidence."

"A_ coincidence?_ A coincidence, Ben, she had the nightmare! She had the nightmare and it burned itself into her chest! Someone is going to come looking for her now!"

"But it might not happen! It might just be something that serves as a warning, or... or something like that, we don't know—"

"_You_ don't know, Benjamin!_ I_ know! It was passed down for generations through my family for this sole purpose! She needs to go now, and either the people she needs to go with are going to find her, or she'll find them, and then were will we be? We have no_ choice_, she... she has to do it, she's been marked for it. And it's my fault..."

"Honey, don't cry... Don't cry, come here... come here..." And she did, and cried into her husband's shoulder. "If she has to, she has to. But she'll be all right, if she goes with good people. People who'll take care of her, keep her outta harm's way. Then when this is all over, she'll come back, and even if the mark is still there, we can stay the same as we always were, okay? I promise, she'll be just fine. It runs in the family." His wife smiled, and then she quietly brushed some hair out of Rosie's face, studying the necklace for a brief while. When she couldn't bear to look at it any longer, she just crept over to one side of her daughter, her husband on the other, and they held her and each other and went back to sleep.

-

Jareth sat and rubbed at the spot where his necklace had burned him. He hadn't yelled in pain. He hadn't even flinched, really. He did it so she wouldn't be worried. Knowing that at the exact same time that she was burned by her necklace the exact same thing had happened to him would only make her worry. He hadn't needed to see the mark on her to know it had happened. And now that she had fallen asleep again in his arms he had time to think. He felt there was something in this world that he was missing. But that wasn't what worried him. It was what this occurrence hailed. This meant something was happening at home that should not have been happening. Gardein hadn't explained it to him fully, choosing to tell him later when he was ready, but he had been killed before that time ever came, poisoned by a rival. And so Jareth had been left with the throne. Much to the disappointment of said rival, who was bound to come back and claim it himself, but as San was here now, he very much doubted that that man was even alive any longer. He would have killed him already.

Jareth knew who San was. He was not, in fact, the man who had poisoned Gardein, but he was another who wanted power. He had come looking for something, that Jareth knew, and his amulet, and apparently Paul's as well, had something to do with that, whatever it was. He wished the old man had told him. He would have been more capable of preventing something he knew of then he was with preventing something he did not. It made his head hurt, thinking of such things, and his head hardly ever hurt from thinking, which made him aware that he was thinking too much. That is possible, and he knew it was, but he didn't expect it now.

Still, it was unnerving to know that something was even more wrong now then had been when he left the Underground. He had been told little things, and some things he should never have been told at all, but nothing that had to do with this. He was only told that he was to keep Gardein's family crest safe from harm at all costs, and that it was now his own family crest, as he had lost his birth family to the Stone Warriors when he was very small. When Gardein had found him and taken him in. Thinking of the old man now, he felt his eyes begin to sting a bit, and he refused to cry now at his age, at such a time as this. So he thought of what to do until the effort made him sleepy, and, leaning against a nearby tree, he allowed Paul to remain in his arms for now, as he couldn't comfortably put her down at any rate, and went to sleep.

Somewhere in the Underground, Hoggle screamed.

A/N: So there you have it. I don't know how interesting that was, and I don't have much of an interest in making sure everything makes sense right now, it's 2:28 in the morning... Thanks to all those of you who do find this interesting and have read thus far. Hope to write again soon, I should have more ideas coming up... Bye! .


	7. Chapter 6

Okay, I'm so sorry it took so long to write this again! I actually completely forgot I had this story at all! I'M SO SORRY! (cowers) ... Nothing? Okay. Good. Anyways, I can't think of anything else to say, so I'm just gonna go on with the chapter now. Enjoy!

Chapter 7

Paul was changing in the bushes. It confused Jareth that she did this, since she knew he had watched her dance on stage, but he had decided not to wonder. She was still a little shaken from the nightmare the night before. By now, however, all she could remember was something to do with birds. Apparently, she hadn't noticed the fresh burn on her chest yet. She might have said something by now if she had.

Jareth, however, had known his own burn was there before he looked. He had been warned it would happen if anything went wrong. He sighed and pulled back from checking his reflection in the water. That mark would stay there forever, permanent. Unless it went away once the situation was resolved... He hadn't been told whether it would stay or not. It didn't matter right now as it were, Paul was obviously about to find out what had happened to her, and then he would need to tell her about the Underground. And what that dream meant the two of them needed to do. That would take some time. Hopefully, she would be willing to understand.

He looked at one of his hands for a little while, then curled it into a fist for a moment before snapping it open, turning it a little and stretching his fingers out quickly over the water. A small burst of air blew straight down into it and a small whirlpool began to form. At least he had enough power left... He concentrated on the whirlpool for a moment, and an image flickered in it. Colors flashed a bit around it. He leaned forward some, and squinted. It was blurry... He wasn't close enough to the entrance, perhaps? He needed to see what— Paul came bursting out of the bushes suddenly, her eyes wide. She was topless, only covered there by a bra. Her shirt was in one hand, the other hand was covering a spot on her chest, just above her bosom. She shoved Jareth out of the way of the water, breaking his contact with the Underground and dropped to her knees in front of it, staring. She removed the hand from her chest and looked at it, rubbing the spot frantically after a moment. She was scared, it seemed.

Jareth said nothing, he just looked at her, waiting for her reaction. The rubbing became more frantic, she didn't understand... He needed to explain. Problem was, he didn't know how. How were you supposed to tell a new friend you were from another world and that you needed to prevent something similar to a more elaborate apocalypse? And that you needed their help, and theirs alone, or it wasn't possible to stop it? Were you supposed to just say 'oh, by the way'? It was ridiculous, how hard this was being made.

Paul was trying to rub the mark so hard it came off, it seemed, but it was only making it worse. She was still more frantic. She might hurt herself soon, perhaps break the burn open and make it bleed. "Paul..." He moved toward her.

"What is this? Look! It's in my skin, what happened?! What Happened?!" She continued to rub at the burn.

"Paul stop it. You'll break it open!"

"It was that dream, wasn't it? It wasn't here before I dreamt that! I never got burned, and neither did my necklace! It was the birds, wasn't it?! Get it off!"

"Stop it! It won't come off, it's been burned there, it isn't a patch of dirt! Listen, stop rubbing at it like that!" He grabbed her hands and pulled them away. She was like a child... She stopped struggling all of a sudden and stared down a little, even more confusion making itself apparent. He noticed where her eyes had gone and quickly let go of her hands to try and cover it up. She wasn't ready to understand just yet. But it was her turn to wrench his hands away from his own chest. The shirt he had been wearing had been unbuttoned near the top so he could look at the mark and check it's shade. It was very dark.

She looked up at him. "Jareth... You're burned, too..."

"It's nothing..."

"Nothing? Nothing, that's it?" Had the situation been lighter, he might have chuckled at what he'd thought she was about to say. "What the hell is going on, Jareth?"

"It's too soon, you aren't ready to understand it yet."

"Like hell I'm not! Tell me!" He noticed for the first time that she was slightly scary when she was angry.

"Look... You aren't ready to be told." He was trying to sound nice. It made her angrier.

She grabbed the front of his shirt, pulled him closer, and brought a fist back, ready to hit him. "I said_ tell me._" She growled.

The prospect of being punched in the face by a girl was something entirely new to the goblin king. He had no idea what it might be like, or whether or not it would do any massive damage considering he wasn't human and might be stronger than an average male human by a few decibels. But he himself had seen a man bigger then he was take one look at her and turn pale and wide-eyed before running away one night while they were walking back from the club. Paul acted as though she hadn't noticed, but he could tell she was pleased it had happened in front of a witness who had yet to be impressed by her. The recollection of that incident put to mind the fact that he might be unwise to anger her even further. "You won't believe me," he said, and braced himself.

"Try me."

He sighed. "Let me go and I suppose I will."

She let him go, but she did it slowly, the glare never leaving her face.

He tried her. "I am not from this world," he said, deciding to put it bluntly.

She scoffed under her breath. "What?"

Clearly, putting it bluntly didn't have any effect, except that she thought he was an idiot. Joy. He would have to use some of his fading powers. Something easy, then. "All right... Here, look at this." He removed something from a pocket.

Paul chose not to show the fact that she was pretty sure he didn't have anything to pull out of his pocket, particularly since it didn't look like he had a pocket of any kind to pull something out of in the first place, and looked at what he held instead. "It's a ball," she concluded.

"It's a_ crystal_ ball," he said patiently.

She blinked at it. She was reflected upside-down in it's surface. "Looks like ordinary glass to me."

"I assure you, it is a crystal."

"A crystal ball, huh?"

He nodded.

"Little small for one of them, isn't it?"

He shrugged. "It increases it's portability. It's only a basic one at any rate."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Uh-_huh._"

"It doesn't matter," he said, giving up. "Watch." He waved a hand over it and said, "Show me... Sarah." He didn't know why he said that. He just did. He was curious how she was doing, anyway.

The surface of the crystal ball went foggy for a moment before dimly lighting up with the image of a woman cooking herself some lunch. His expression went soft. Almost sad, really. Paul studied the image. She didn't believe it was real at first, it might have been some kind of an illusion, but then she realized that there wasn't anything to cause an illusion anywhere nearby. She was about to comment, and then noted his expression. She looked at the ball, then back at him. "Girlfriend?" Why was her voice so soft all of a sudden?

"No... But she had that option." He didn't look up. "She was the first to beat me at my own game. She had, of course started it all herself, but she somehow managed to make it."

"What happened?"

"It's a long story..."

"Sometimes those are best ones."

He looked up at her and then decided that it might help her understand. "Very well. I guess it wouldn't hurt... Here. I'll explain as you look."

Paul found herself fascinated with the story. It was a shorter, less detailed version of the full, but it was good, nonetheless. Images of what happened flickered across the surface of the crystal he held. Or at least she thought he held. After a bit it appeared to be floating in front them quite patiently. If a crystal ball could be patient, that is. When it was finished, she sat back. "Huh." She paused. "Why do I feel like I just watched a full-length movie?"

"That is strange, isn't it?"

"Okay, so you're the king of some place called the Underground. This chick wanted her brother to go away because she was a whiny little bitch, and when you took him away just like she wanted, she got upset. Something tells me it wasn't that she really cared very much about the kid, I think she was more worried about the consequences on her part, but that's just me... And then she found a few friends, got to your city, and took her brother back after saying some magic words to defeat you with, have I got that right?"

"Well... yes. Sort of, yes. In a basic sense of it."

"Hmmm... Okay... So what the hell does this all have to do with these burns we have?!"

He winced. "Well, nothing, really, not exactly. It was to help you understand."

"Oh, great. Well, I understand that you're a friggin' weirdo and that you aren't telling me what the hell is going on."

He sighed. "Must you make this so hard to do?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I think I must."

"Do you need more proof?"

"I'm all set with your fancy magic tricks, thanks. Just tell me what's going on! I don't take injuries sustained during freaky dreams lightly, you know!"

"It's quite complicated..."

"Complicated my ass!" She stood up angrily and wrenched the shirt she still held on over her head. "If you don't mind, I'm gonna go shopping for our fucking food now. Okay? And maybe on the way you can decide when you wanna tell me, how's that?" With that, she grabbed her boots and pulled them on, then began stalking off in the direction of town.

He watched her go, and then sighed again, looking at the crystal ball in his hand... which was fading. He stared at it in shock. "Oh, no..." he whispered. This was not good, this was not good at all... He got up and hurried after her.

-

San smiled. The second keystone was probably somewhere around here... Now if only the stupid stone heads would just shut up.

"GO BACK. BEWAAAARE!"

"I'm not going anywhere, thank you very much." He pushed a small figure clutching a bloodied hand ahead of him a little more with his foot.

"TURN BACK. YOU MUST TURN BAAAACK. Oh, come on? Not even worried about what's ahead?"

"No, I am not, sir."

"Aaaawww, but—"

"Oh, do shut up!" San yelled at it, "Or I shall have my men carve you off of your pedestals!"

"Now, there isn't any need to yell..."

San grumbled incoherently to himself and kicked Hoggle along further. "Well? Are we getting closer or not?"

"W-we should be there very soon... Think it should be th-this way..."

"Hurry it up! I am growing impatient!" He kicked him again.

"Ouch! Oh, all right, all right..." He whimpered again, ashamed of himself. _Ooohh... What am I doin'? I don't like Jareth very much, but still... I shouldn't be showin' him... I was trusted with it's safety... Oh... _Hoggle couldn't help but keep going, even if he knew it was wrong. He had been threatened, and wounded, and he didn't like being threatened _or_ wounded, but especially not both. Oh, no... He stopped. He had led them right to it.

"Excellent." San stepped forward and removed the weeds that had grown over the keystone with his knife, leaving Hoggle to stand stock still and whimper about his hand.

"You have done well... Hogwart, was it?"

"H-H-Hoggle... Sir..."

"Right, Hogpie. I have no more use for you. You may go. I can learn where the other stones are by other means..."

Hoggle ran away as fast as he could. He didn't have time to think, he just needed to find someone who could help him...

"Sir?" one of the guards said, uncertain. Usually the boss didn't let people he had no more use for get away from him.

"Hm?" San was too absorbed in studying the strange symbols on the stone to pay much attention.

"What about the little fella, sir?"

"Him? Ah, yes. Go find him, and when you do, please dispose of him... We don't need trash like that around..."

"Yessir." And with that, the man he had just spoken to gestured to two others, who quickly left with him in pursuit of the escaped Hoggle.

-

The trip to the store was rather hurried. Jareth tried his best to explain why he _couldn't_ explain to her what was going on in full detail at the moment, but Paul was ignoring him until she heard him try to say something about the matter. So the whole time they were in the store he said nothing, having given up by the time they reached the cereal.

And then he realized that they couldn't eat anything here without a means of cooking it, and because they were trying their best not to be seen, they couldn't make a fire, lest they draw attention to themselves... "Paul?" he asked cautiously when he noticed this, "How do you propose to cook any of this?"

She stopped walking. She blinked. "Oh... Ah, shit." With that, she turned and prepared to put everything back, but when she did, she bumped into a tall girl with short brown hair wearing men's clothes. A hurried, embarrassed apology passed between them, and they were about to walk on their way, but then Jareth grabbed onto both of their arms and stared at something. "What?" snapped Paul, and then gave a surprised yelp when he grabbed the front of the shirt the girl in front of them was wearing and yanked it down. "Hey! What the—" She stared. The girl, who had been preparing to punch him, stared. He stared.

The necklaces that Paul and Jareth were wearing were glowing softly. The only way they saw the light was because of the shadow between all three of them. And the girl had a necklace on, too. It was glowing as well. They looked up at each other, confused, and then Jareth said quietly, "What... Um... If you don't mind my asking, what is your name?"

"Um... It's Megan..."

"Well, then, Megan, I think something significant was not brought to my attention when I found out about these pendants. And I also think that you may want to come with us, so that I can try to figure out just what it is I was not told."

And so it was that they found a place to eat that night that wasn't on the edge of a pond. They could cook, too.

A/N: OKAY! That was all I could come up with for this chapter, sorry... Stupid? Yeah. Boring? Maybe. Short? Yeah, I know. But at least it wasn't pointless, right? Anyways, again, I do apologize to those of you who were eagerly awaiting this chapter for how long it took, but I hope you'll forgive me! Thanks for reading! Peace!


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